In a break with President Donald Trump, outgoing Attorney General William Barr said on Monday that “I see no reason” to appoint special counsel to investigate allegations of voter fraud or the financial dealings of President-elect Joe Biden’s son .
In his latest press conference, Barr also broke with Trump by insisting that federal officials believe Russia is behind the cyber-espionage operation against the US government. Trump had hinted without evidence that China could be responsible.
Barr said the investigation into Hunter Biden’s financial transactions “is being conducted in a responsible and professional manner.”
“I see no reason to appoint a special prosecutor, nor do I intend to do so until I leave office,” he said.
Barr also told The Associated Press in an earlier interview that he had seen no evidence of extensive electoral fraud, despite Trump’s claims to the contrary. Trump has continued his unfounded insistence even after the Electoral College formalized Biden’s December 14 victory.
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Trump – angry that Barr has not publicly announced the ongoing two-year investigation against Hunter Biden – has been consulting on special attorneys, according to White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, White House adviser Pat Cipollone and outside allies. Trump officials and Republicans close to the White House who spoke with The Associated Press on condition of anonymity to discuss private matters.
In addition to appointing special counsel to investigate Hunter Biden, sources say Trump was interested in appointing another special counsel to review his own voter fraud allegations. Trump has even sparked the idea of appointing District Attorney Sidney Powell to investigate the alleged election fraud, even though Powell was fired from Trump’s legal team after making an increasingly bizarre series of allegations about the election.
Now that a special prosecutor has been appointed, it would be more difficult for Biden to end the investigations. But it is not clear how this would be accomplished without the support of court officials. And if Trump expected his newly appointed Assistant Attorney General Jeff Rosen to move beyond Barr on any of the issues, he could quickly become frustrated.